BY DAVID MAMARIL HOROWITZ

david.horowitz@bgdailynews.com

Stephen Parrott, an advanced EMT with The Medical Center EMS, recalled one of the many times he’s saved a child who was overdosing on fentanyl.

“I said, ‘There’s no such thing as a fentanyl addict,’ ” said Parrott, who’s been with The Medical Center EMS for 27 years, and a supervisor the last two. “Because you’re potentially going to get the one that kills you, and you’ve not been around it long enough to become an addict.’”

The drug is making a strong comeback here in Bowling Green and Warren County, he said.

Sometimes, it gets mixed into weed; other times, oxycontin, he said. What’s clear, he stated, is drugs across the spectrum are being spiked with it, and these are accessible to children, who often aren’t aware of what they’re taking.

“(People) are disguising it and putting it in anything and everything that your kids can get their hands on,” he told around a dozen parents at the Bowling Green High School Performing Arts Center.

He cautioned that it’s critical to avoid accepting drugs that aren’t prescribed by a doctor, and to avoid consumables from opened packages such as candies. It’s also important, he said, that families talk to their children about it. Parrott also implored parents to keep checking on their children’s phones, stressing how easy it is for them to access drugs via social media.

These were among the main points Monday evening, as Parrott spoke about fentanyl to an audience of hardly a dozen. In addition to his full time work, Parrott is one of the two EMT program teachers at BGHS. Pertinent to the evening, he co-runs Parrott Consulting, where he and another speaker raise awareness about drugs.

Parrott’s scheduled to deliver a different version of the presentation to each class of BGHS students this week.

“Our main purpose is just to start the conversations at home,” BGHS Assistant Principal Tara Coomes said. “That’s our main purpose of having these presentations: It’s awareness and communication.”

Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, has seen a huge spike in usage. It’s odorless, tasteless and approximately 100 times more potent than morphine, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration — making a minuscule fraction of a tablet potent enough to kill a person.

The CDC estimates that more 110,000 people nationwide died from overdoses in 2022, and almost 70% were caused by fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. In 2021, Kentucky had 2,250 overdose deaths, with more than 70% involving fentanyl, according to the Kentucky Office of the Attorney General.

“I’m tired of seeing young adults who are passing away,” Parrott said. “I’m tired of having to go to their mamas and daddy and tell them, ‘Your son or daughter has made a choice to continue using the drug, because here’s your magic words: ‘It’s not going to affect me; I can tell what’s in it.’ There’s no taste, there’s no smell. You can’t figure it out just by looking at it.”

“That was very eye opening,” said Christina Ngoy, a parent of two BGISD students. “I definitely will be talking to my children, even my older ones, so that they can pay attention and not fall to peer pressure with their friends …

“I was very scared to hear the statistics and to know that they are targeting younger and younger ages. Usually you think … it’s older kids, but then for him to talk to us about how the kids can order it, DoorDash it, they’re just able to get to it more easily than when we were growing up.”

Added Cindy Clark, a parent of two BGISD students, “Fentanyl — we all know is dangerous at this point, but are we telling them that it’s in vapes? That it’s in a pen that they think just has … marijuana in it? …

It’s more important to talk to your children very openly about all of this.”